Lost my bird

[erkme73]

That island doesn't have enough elevation to register as 3D in Google Earth, so the path overlay is a bit meaningless.



But, it would appear that if she stopped where you lost contact, and made a b-line back to you, given the (in)accuracy of some of these map overlays, or the fact that it may have gone just a bit further around the island before attempting RTH, it may have encountered that high rock formation.

On your RTH settings, did you have it configured to avoid obstacles by going over/around them?

 

[Bjorn C]

Setting of 30 meters and yes

 

[erkme73]

I read that in your previous posts, but the OA component has several options. It can sit and hover (where it will eventually right where it is when the battery dies), it can go up until the OA sensors show a clear path, or it can go around. I think by default it's the up and over, but don't want to assume.

 

[Bjorn C]

I get it and have read such things in previous threads, hovering and such, I unfortunately was over water and waited like my dog does for me to come home. Thank you for your time and effort looking into this. I guess this is the "Refresh test", didn't want to be the guinea pig but here I sit.
Cheers to you Sir

 

[erkme73]

I wish you the best of luck. I'm sure if there is a solution here, @msinger will find it. FWIW, while the Refersh program does cover water damage, unless DJI rules that the loss was not your fault, you will need to return the MP to them. Once you get a consensus here on the cause, make your case to DJI, and stand your ground. There are a number of users who were initially denied (deemed operator error) but after appealing and insisting to the contrary, they were granted a no-cost replacement. If, in fact, this was a DJI issue, you should not be dinged on your Refresh.

 

[Bjorn C]

thank you again, there is no way other than hiring a diver to possibly recover my MP, does a large Chinese company have a heart? I'm starting to hold my breath.....now!

 

[msinger]

Here's the view from where your Mavic lost the downlink:




If your Mavic had returned from the spot shown in erkme73's diagram above, it should have easily cleared the island and made it back to the home point. I think it continued on coasting for a few more seconds as it came to a stop. That would have put it in a position where it would not have been able to clear the top of the island. If that occurred, it most likely crashed in this area:



It's quite possible that your Mavic is laying on the back side of that island.

 

[Cutaway]

After reading other threads on this subject I unfortunately must add my story. I was flying at a place called Stone Island yesterday, just a bit south of Mazatlan when things went wrong pretty quickly. My app was updated, my compass and IMU were good, I don't take off until I have the green bar and GPS ready to go signal from my controller. I took off, RTH was tagged and I started to fly out to an outcropping (or island ) of rocks about a KM off shore. I was initially flying at about 7 meters above the water at about 32 KM's, there was a light breeze but nothing drastic, I flown in windier conditions before. As I approached the island I elevated to about 13 meters and started to round the island flying counterclockwise until halfway around it I lost my signal, video and with the controller. Now I've had this happen before, (more often than I think I should) and not really at crazy distances or with any real obstructions but RTH has always kicked in and when I would regain the video I would turn off the RTH and take command of the bird again. That did not happen yesterday. The controller kept reading "Connecting" I tried to manually initiate the RTH but it only beeped. My battery life on the bird registered 89%, the controller was at 94% and my iPad was at 88%. It never reconnected, the numbers on the screen never changed. I tried to fly straight up and back towards myself but nothing happened, it just kept beeping. I waited about 45 minutes but we all know that battery was long dead and my bird was now a fish. I don't know how to transfer my flight logs, I tried connecting my iPad to my computer, it says I've successfully exported my CSV files to the DJI Go/Documents but I don't know how to find those in the app. I've contacted DJI hoping, praying they will help me but I'm not holding my breath. Can you guys help me out please, I really don't think I did anything wrong. This was an easy low risk flight that should have ended with me enjoying my Margarita not just letting the ice melt and my blood boil.

Sorry bro....

 

[HiVac]

I've also had similar (unfortunate) issues with the RTH options. I learned the hard way the two following things:

1) the RTH height is based on where you took off, not where you loose signal...

2) in the RTH setting, at the bottom under "advanced", there is an option to "avoid obstacles" during a RTH....yet, by default....this is disabled!

 

[Bjorn C]

Thank you for looking into this further msinger, I got my permission slip signed and my field trip today is back to the cursed island. I will start with binoculars, (thankfully I skinned her in orange) then I need to see if I can get ashore. From the sat pictures there may be a way but there also looks like there are some big rocks partially submerged on the back side so I will see. Your advice and expertise is much appreciated. Will keep you posted.
HiVac I'm sorry you lost yours too, it really sucks. I took off from the beach so I was only potentially 2 feet above sea level so I don't think that was a factor. As far as the advanced settings, I honestly don't remember. We will see what today brings.

 

[Kestrel]

Good luck, I hope you find it, And I hope the bird isn't a total loss when you find it. If you find it, do you have the care refresh plan?

 

[Bjorn C]

Thanks for that. At the beach now waiting for the fog to clear...

 

[Malavic]

Thanks for that. At the beach now waiting for the fog to clear...

Good luck!

One of the first things I did was raise my RTH ceiling to 50m. I live in the mountains and somewhat heavy forest and some big old oaks go up to almost 30m. I looked at the peak of that little island and it's 150ft and granted those numbers in Google Earth aren't accurate, they're close and a 50m ceiling might have saved your MP.

I hope you find it.

 

[HFMan]

Island was approx 18-20 meters high and TYH set at 30 meters

That island is a LOT more than 18-20 meters high. More like 47-50 meters. You basically flew it behind a mountain and lost signal. The Mavic should avoid obstacles in RTH if set, but in this case it probably tried to move 'around' the island but with so many trees it probably snagged a tree.

 

[Bjorn C]

Well back from my quest and to no avail. It's mostly scrub and some small cacti. There was no place to even get on the island and the shear cliff so that side made it way to dangerous to attempt a climb. It might be a bit taller than 30 meters but that's a small peak. Question though, in the past when I've lost signal, the RTH kicks in automatically and starts beeping even while having no signal( or trying to regain) is this not the case or am I mistaken?